Location
Laurentum is located near the very center of
Achillonia in the highest regions of the White Peaks. It is the highest settlement in the entire mountain range -- and quite possibly the entire world.
Founded far from the main thoroughfare that lies at the bottom of the nearby Orosofos valley, Laurentum can only be reached by climbing a perilous path halfway up the moutain peak that is the tallest in the entire range. Mount Pantokratos is a gargantuan monolith of stone and ice, a natural wonder and one of the most sacred places of the Amazons. Laurentum has guarded the only viable passage to its summit for thousands of years.
The peak of Mount Pantokratos lies directly beneath the
Alpha constellation, a group of stars attached to the firmament by Galatea herself. Laurentum is thus the closest settled location to the constellation. It is only atop the freezing summit that Alpha can be seen in its true form, revealing five additional stars that change the axe-shape of the constellation into a symmetrical labrys. This true form of the star configuration is known as the
Labrys constellation.
Infrastructure
Laurentum's location does not accomodate permanent settlement. Temperatures are freezing all year round and little to no resources can be harvested from the snow-capped mountain slopes. The city has always been reliant on supplies received from settlements at lower elevations; most of the food and raw materials that the city uses come from Orosofos valley below the city.
The city constantly suffers snowfall and strong wids, and its conditions are kept livable only by magic. Buildings and gardens are heated with
surtling hearts -- motes of elemental fire that radiate warmth for years before growing cold. The hearts are brought to the city from
Surtur's Grave, a vast valley on the other side of Mount Pantokratos where they are harvested from the bodies of magma elementals known as
surtlings.
Significance
Laurentum holds great religious, cultural and political importance to Achillonia. There are several
Temples more influential than
Laurentia or with larger hosts of warriors, but the city of Laurentum has ever held a special place in the hearts and minds of all Amazons. It is a monument to the ancient ways of the Amazons and their divine connection to
Galatea. So beloved is the city that stories of it have travelled even beyond the White Peaks.
Holy city
There are many locations across Amanor that are sacred to
Galatea, but of these Laurentum is the only major settlement. The position of Galatea's constellation above it makes Mount Pantokratos a holy mountain -- a place marked by the Goddess of Battle as a sign of her favor. The people of Laurentia believe that the Amazons will hold the goddess's favor only as long as Laurentum remains in their hands, and thus the defense of Mount Pantokratos and indeed all of the White Peaks is a sacred duty for all Achillonians.
Ancient heritage
Laurentum is perhaps the most important location of Amazon history. Laurentia is the oldest of the twelve Amazon temples and Laurentum itself is the oldest settlement in Achillonia. The city traces its history across thousands of years to the myth-shrouded Dawn Wars in which
Galatea slew the mighty god
Surtur and created the first Amazons from his blood.
Laurentum was the only notable settlement in the White Peaks during the Amazon diaspora, a period of thousands of years during which the Amazons departed the the
White Peaks and moved to the lands of ancient
Tyria. The majority of the Amazon people spread across the city-states of that bountiful land, mingling with the
humans,
elves and
dwarves that lived there. It was Laurentum alone -- its people refusing to leave their sacred mountain home -- that preserved Amazon culture through the ages in its most ancient form. After the Amazons were driven out of Tyria following the War of Tyre, they returned to the safety of the White Peaks to found Achillonia. Laurentum reacquainted the beleaguered exiles with the old ways of the their people, serving as a spiritual guide for the nation in its infancy.
Temple capital
Laurentum is the capital city of
Laurentia, even though it is not the largest city within Laurentia's territory nor the most economically or martially significant. The temple controls several population centers found at lower elevations where the bounties of nature are easier to claim, but Laurentum has nonetheless retained its capital status due its religious importance. The ruling
Primarch of Laurentia is expected to live in the city and rule the temple from therein.
Reputation
Galatea's constellation on the firmament is visible far and wide. Tales abound across the
Heartlands and beyond of the savage land that lies beneath the constellation -- the chosen land of the Goddess of Battle. Unfortunately for eager pilgrims, the lands of Achillonia are forbidden to foreigners. Only Amazons can ever make the trip to the holy city of Laurentum. The Amazons have, however, spread the legend of Laurentum to nearby lands in the many wars they have fought.
Laurentum is recorded in Heartland history as an ascetic city of zealous monks and priests -- a place kept seperate from politics, trade, and modern frivolity. On the frozen slopes of the highest mountain in the world, there is room for worship alone and the soul is strengthened by constant hardship. Heartlanders can only guess at how exactly the Amazons worship the Goddess of Battle, but their divine favor is unquestionable.
Even the
Empyreal Faith accepts Laurentum as Galatea's holy city, even though it condemns the
Amazon religion as heresy. There are several records of great
Egean clerics achieving divine communion with
Galatea over the past few millenia, and every time the goddess has issued a challenge to her worshippers in the Heartlands: if they were envious of the Amazons and their holy city, all they had to do was march to Mount Pantokratos and raze Laurentum to the ground. None did.
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